RFP Response to the Town of Stratford, Connecticut

1. RFP Response to the Town of Stratford, Connecticut

2. Ctl-D: Superb Quality, On Time and On-Budget… You might just be impressed … and so might we…Ctl-D is a full service web design, consulting and marketing firm. Our team is comprised of Tim Brown, Celia Fliess, Lynn Ferkranus and Dee Calder.  We bring together over forty years of experience in telecommunications, video production, insurance and medical illustration as well as a full six weeks of web design.

3. Our firm is sensitive to Stratford’s rich history and cultural depth.  While within a commuting distance of New York City, Stratford is also a thriving shipping center and has rail links to Amtrak via Metro North.  Stratford lays claim to the birth of the American Helicopter industry thanks to the Sikorsky Aircraft company.  The diverse economic base is complimented by Stratford’s charming, ‘smaller town’, Oceanside lifestyle.

4. Charter • The Ctl-D Group will design, create and host Stratford Connecticut’s new website. Some of the elements include but are not limited to: • Repository of: • Meeting minutes • Reports • Agendas etc. • Contact information • Emergency information • Site must be: • Easy to navigate • Secure • Searchable • Appealing, functional design

5. Scope – see document

6. Work Breakdown Study (WBS) 1.0 Communication Guidelines/Protocol 1.1 Email 1.2 Telephone 1.3 Meetings 2.0 Planning 2.1 Research, Sampling & Benchmarking 2.2 Create Project Organization (roles, responsibilities, task assignments) 2.3 Prospect and secure third party developers 2.4 Risk Assessment

7. 3.0 Visual Design 3.1 Navigation 3.2 Tone/ambience 3.3 Font 3.4 Colours 3.5 Layout 3.6 Text 3.7 Image adjustments (selection and resizing) 3.8 Navigation 3.9 User Testing/feedback 3.10 Graphics 4.0 Outsource Management 4.1 Securing resources 4.2 Costing per outsourced party 4.3 Provide Materials required for their deliverables 4.4 User Testing/feedback

8. 5.0 Coding Elements (including integration of outsourced materials) 5.1 About Us 5.2 Search tool 5.3 Calendar 5.4 Document repository 5.5 Other Departments (internal to administration of town such as boards & commissions) 5.6 Public Safety (fire, police, emergency management) 5.7 FAQ 5.8 Maps (GIS system) 5.9 E-mailing list to citizens 5.10 Email system for approving documents 5.11 Useful links

9. 6.0 Launch 6.1 Testing 6.2 Publicize 7.0 Support Documentation 8.0 Post Production 8.1 Monitor Server Logs 8.2 Validation 8.3 Testing 8.4 Training

10. Statement of Work (SOW) • Ctl-D will perform the tasks, activities and provide the deliverables as defined in the Scope section of this RFP response. Where greater efficiencies can be achieved, Ctl-D will outsource certain deliverables and manage our outsourcing partners accordingly. • At any time over the course of the project, Ctl-D will have at least one consultant on site. • All page coding will meet the strictest of standards. • At predetermined project milestones, the town will sign off and Ctl-D will invoice accordingly

11. From a survey of 20 sites for small towns in Connecticut, we were able to identify the following trends that could potentially influence the development of the site: • The most popular background colour was white. It was used exclusively for 12 sites (60% of those surveyed) and another 7 (35%) used white + light blue and/or gray • Blue was the most prominent accent colour and was used for 14 sites (70%) • 6 (30%) of the sites had a red, white and blue Americana theme and most of them seemed to be trying to portray a “small town USA” image

12. 12 (60%) of the sites used a sans-serif font (usually Arial) and for 17 (85%) the text colour was black • The average font size was 10pt. • The most popular images included on the home page were the town seal (15 or 75% of the sites) and a photo of the mayor or selectperson (7 or 35% of the sites) • Other images frequently appearing were the town hall, the town welcome sign, main street, statues, the American flag, rolling hills, lighthouses, boats/harbours, fall leaves, bandstands, festivals, happy children and people playing baseball

13. A few of the sites were designed exclusively for the benefit of the town’s citizens but most were also trying to promote the town and attract tourists and/or new residents • 4 (20%) of the sites were designed by an off-the-shelf software specialty company called Qscend.  Their sites had well designed fly-out menus which were easy to navigate and we might want to do something similar

14. There was a fair bit of uniformity in what these sites contained: • general information about the town (About Us) • links to various departments and boards which can be internal or external • one or more document depositories (e.g. minutes of meetings, bylaws, environmental reports) • downloadable forms (e.g. application for building permit) • public safety and emergency preparedness (what to do in the event of terrorism, Lime Disease, West Nile, hurricanes etc.) • calendar of town events

15. a search tool • maps and photos of the town • an e-mail list for citizens • useful links • tourist/recreational info • information for prospective residents (e.g. housing, schools, churches, demographics) • businesses resources • employment • ability to pay taxes and other bills online

16. The Town of Stratford’s existing site is very much in-line with the above trends. It features black sans-serif text on a white background and has an Americana feel (colours are red, white and blue.) Images appearing on the home page are the town harbour and a bandstand.  Less typically, there are shots of helicopters throughout the site because the town prides itself on being the birth place of the American helicopter industry. 

33. Proposed Budget for the website development for